Research Your Ballot
Your November 3 ballot runs from statewide offices down to local races most guides never mention. This guide shows you how the ballot works, what’s on it, how to find and judge voting guides, how to research any candidate yourself, and what to expect at the polls.
How the November Ballot Works
On November 3, every registered voter in your precinct receives the same ballot. You get every race and every candidate, and you can vote for whoever you want in any combination.
Georgia doesn't register voters by party, and in the general election you're not tied to one. County election officials say it plainly: you are not restricted by party in any way. Your ballot lists the candidates from each party, any independent candidates who qualified, and a write-in line.
Every race sits on one ballot, and you can mix parties freely, like the example above.
What’s on Your Ballot
Your November 3 ballot depends on where you live, but it can be surprisingly long. Most Georgia voters will see a mix of statewide, legislative, judicial, and local races all at once.
Federal
- U.S. Senate
- U.S. House
Statewide
- Governor
- Lieutenant Governor
- Attorney General
- Secretary of State
- Insurance & Labor Commissioners
- State School Superintendent
- Public Service Commissioner
Legislative & Judicial
- Georgia General Assembly seats
- Local circuit judges
Local & Ballot Questions
- Sheriff & District Attorney
- Probate & Superior Court
- School board & county commission
- 3 state constitutional amendments
Your ballot may include some or all of these races, depending on where you live.
Enter your address on the My Voter Page and you’ll see every race and candidate specific to your precinct, before you ever set foot in a polling place.
Everyone will also see three yes-or-no ballot questions:
| Ballot question | What a "yes" does |
|---|---|
| Amendment 1 Conservation land |
Raises the maximum agricultural or timber land one owner can enroll in the conservation-use tax program from 2,000 to 4,000 acres. |
| Amendment 2 Next Gen 9-1-1 |
Creates a dedicated fund whose money can only be spent expanding and maintaining Georgia's 9-1-1 emergency response system. |
| Amendment 3 Probate judges |
Requires probate judges to be elected without party labels, the way every other Georgia judge already is. |
Your exact races depend on where you live. Preview the official wording and your full ballot on the My Voter Page.
Find Voting Guides
Voting guides come from civic nonprofits, local media, advocacy groups, political parties, and single-issue organizations. All can be useful. Knowing where a guide comes from, and why it exists, is what lets you use it well. Here are the sources Georgia voters use most, and what to expect from each.
Local newspapers & TV
Georgia outlets often publish candidate Q&As before elections. Local reporters know these races best. Search your outlet’s name plus “voter guide 2026.”
Civic & nonpartisan groups
Some civic groups publish questionnaires where every candidate answers the same questions. Equal treatment of all candidates is a good trust signal.
Advocacy & issue groups
Business groups, faith communities, unions, and single-issue advocates publish openly values-driven guides. Fine to use, just know the lens they bring.
Candidate websites
A candidate’s own site tells you what they want you to know. Treat it as a primary source, not a neutral one. Check positions, background, and endorsements.
Political parties
The state parties publish materials about their candidates. Explicitly partisan, but useful for seeing how a candidate is positioned within their own party.
People you trust
Neighbors, colleagues, and faith leaders who follow local politics are often the most useful source, especially for local races with little media coverage.
Evaluate Voting Guides
Knowing where a guide comes from and what it’s trying to do tells you how much weight to give it. Here’s what to look for.
If a guide recommends candidates, it’s advocacy, not education. Not automatically bad, but know what you’re reading.
Words like “radical,” “dangerous,” or “heroic” signal persuasion, not facts.
If a guide won’t say who made it or why, you can’t assess its angle.
If one candidate’s answers appear but another’s don’t, the guide may be skewing your view.
Claims about a candidate’s positions should link to public records so you can verify them.
Every candidate gets the same questions, the same space, and the same format.
Links to candidate sites, official records, or public statements you can check yourself.
Explains who made it, what their mission is, and how they gathered information.
Puts races in context: who does this job, and why it affects your daily life.
Trustworthy guides send you to mvp.sos.ga.gov for registration and ballot info.
Use Guides Wisely
- 1Start with your sample ballot, not a guide.
Use My Voter Page first to see exactly who and what is on your ballot. Many voters are surprised by how many races appear, especially local and judicial ones.
- 2Check multiple sources for contested races.
No single guide tells the whole story. Cross-reference local news, candidate websites, and any civic guides you trust.
- 3Pay special attention to judicial races.
Local judicial races appear on your November ballot regardless of party, but get little media attention. Make a point to research them.
- 4Don’t overlook down-ballot races.
Sheriff, District Attorney, school board, and county commission races shape public safety and education more directly than most statewide offices.
- 5Endorsement guides are one opinion, not a verdict.
Guides from civic groups, newspapers, or advocacy organizations are useful context. Read them as an informed perspective, not a final answer.
- 6Verify before forwarding.
If a guide summarizes a candidate’s position, check the candidate’s own site to confirm context, especially for quotes or claims that seem surprising.
How to Evaluate a Candidate Yourself
You don’t need a guide to research a candidate. Here’s a framework for doing it yourself, whether it’s a Governor’s race or a county commission seat. Tap any item to expand.
Understand what the office actually does
Before evaluating a candidate, know the job. A Governor signs or vetoes legislation, commands the National Guard, and appoints agency heads. A District Attorney decides which cases to prosecute. A school board sets curriculum and hires the superintendent.
A candidate’s positions only matter in the context of the power they’d actually have. If you’re unsure what an office does, search “[office name] Georgia responsibilities” or visit georgia.gov for official descriptions.
Check their stated positions
Start with the candidate’s own website. What issues do they lead with? What do they say they’ll do? Then look for:
- Position papers or issue pages on their site
- Responses to questionnaires from local media or civic groups
- Statements at debates or forums, via video or transcripts
- Their social media, for unfiltered positions and tone
Review their record if they hold office
For incumbents or candidates who’ve held prior office, the record is the most reliable predictor of future behavior. Look for:
- Voting record — Georgia legislators’ votes are public. Search the Georgia General Assembly site for roll-call votes by name
- Sponsored legislation — which bills they introduced or co-sponsored shows priorities, not just talking points
- Committee assignments — which committees they served on, and the work they did there
- Attendance — did they show up and vote, or miss sessions?
- Then vs. now — has a position shifted? If so, have they explained why?
Look at who’s funding them
Campaign finance filings are public record in Georgia. Who’s donating can tell you as much as what a candidate says. Look up contributions at:
- Georgia Ethics Commission — ethics.ga.gov, for state and local candidates
- Federal Election Commission — fec.gov, for U.S. House and Senate candidates
Look at both the size of donations and where they come from. Large contributions from one industry or interest group can hint at where a candidate’s priorities lie.
Check who’s endorsing them
Endorsements from organizations, elected officials, and community leaders signal who a candidate is aligned with. Find them on the candidate’s site and consider whether the endorsing groups reflect values you share. Endorsements from groups on both sides of an issue can reveal how a candidate is positioning themselves.
For judicial candidates, use a different standard
Judges don’t campaign on policy positions, and they shouldn’t. For judicial races, look for:
- Years and type of legal experience (criminal, civil, appellate)
- Whether they’ve been a prosecutor, public defender, or private attorney, each brings a different perspective to the bench
- Any disciplinary history with the State Bar of Georgia at gabar.org
- Endorsements from legal and civic organizations familiar with their work
Judicial races are nonpartisan, but the candidates still have backgrounds and judicial philosophies worth understanding.
What Happens at the Polls
Voting in person takes three steps:
-
1Check in with your photo ID at your polling place. On Election Day that's your assigned precinct; during early voting it's any early voting site in your county.
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2Receive your ballot. Same one for everybody in your precinct. Nothing to request, nothing to declare.
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3Vote race by race. Any candidate, any party, any mix. Your choices are completely private. No one will ever know who you voted for.
Tips & Common Mistakes
- Confirm your polling place before you go. Locations can change between elections. The My Voter Page takes less time than driving to the wrong one.
- Don't wait for Election Day if you don't have to. During early voting (Oct 13–30) you can use any early voting site in your county, not just your precinct.
- Don't write in uncertified names. A write-in only counts if that person officially certified as a write-in candidate with the state. Your neighbor, a celebrity, or yourself won't be counted.
- Moved recently? Update your registration by October 5. An old address is one of the most common Election Day surprises, and it's a two-minute fix online.
- Vote the whole ballot. The races at the bottom (judges, local offices, the three amendments) are often decided by the fewest votes. Skipping them is leaving your say on the table.
- Plan for a possible runoff. Races without a majority winner go to a December 1 runoff, and its early voting window is short. If a race you care about heads there, make your plan right away.
Common Questions
Do I have to be a member of a party to vote?
No. Georgia doesn't register voters by party, so there's no membership to hold or declare. Every registered voter gets the same full ballot and can vote for candidates from any party.
Gwinnett County Elections FAQI consider myself an independent. How does that work for me?
Exactly the same as for everyone else, and that's the good news. There's one ballot in the general election, and every voter in your precinct gets it. It lists the candidates from each party together, race by race, along with any qualified independent candidates and a write-in line.
Because Georgia never registers voters by party, there's no "independent" status to sort out. You walk in as what you are: a registered Georgia voter, free to vote for whoever you want.
Georgia Secretary of State, Elections FAQCan I vote for candidates from different parties on the same ballot?
Yes. This is called split-ticket voting, and it's fully allowed. Georgia's ballot has no "vote for one party across the board" option, so every race is a separate choice you make on its own.
Is my vote private?
Yes. How you vote is secret. No one will ever know which candidates you chose. The only thing that becomes part of the public record is that you voted, which is true for every voter in every election.
What about third-party and independent candidates?
They appear on your November ballot right alongside the major-party candidates. Qualified candidates from parties like the Libertarians, along with independents who gathered the required petition signatures, are listed race by race wherever they're running.
Georgia Secretary of State, Candidate QualifyingWhat if a race goes to a runoff in December?
If no candidate wins a majority on November 3, that race goes to a runoff on Tuesday, December 1 between the top two finishers. Every registered Georgia voter can vote in it. Runoffs don't have write-in candidates, so the ballot lists only the top two.
How do I know if I'm registered?
Look yourself up on the My Voter Page. It shows your registration status, your polling place, and a preview of your ballot. Need to register or re-register? Do it at registertovote.sos.ga.gov by October 5.
Georgia Secretary of State, Elections FAQReady to make a plan for November 3?
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